The challenge
The Shop landed at Fanatics Fest as one of the most in-demand stops on the floor, and that demand collided with the reality of a barbershop: every cut takes real time, and there are only so many chairs.
- Demand far outpaced physical capacity. Hundreds of fans wanted a cut, but a barbershop services guests one chair at a time. A traditional line would have stretched for hours and capped how many fans even bothered to try.
- Standing in line meant missing the festival. Fanatics Fest is wall to wall with activations. Every hour a fan spends in a snake line is an hour of signings, competitions, and photo ops they lose. The line itself was competing with the rest of the show for the fan’s time.
- Keeping fans engaged through a long wait. A long wait with nothing to do turns excitement into frustration. The activation needed a way to hold a fan’s attention and keep them ready for their turn without asking them to physically wait in place.
The solution
NextMe replaced the physical line with a virtual one, so fans could hold their place without standing in it.
- A virtual waiting room fans joined from their phones. Fans joined the virtual waiting room with a single link and immediately saw their position in line. No app download, no standing around. Their spot was held while they went back to enjoying the festival.
- A branded waiting experience built for the activation. The waiting room was themed to The Shop, with the cuts on display and a clear “how the line works” explainer. Fans browsed the styles while they waited, which turned dead time into part of the experience and kept them dialed in on the activation.
- Two queues for two kinds of cuts, run from one platform. The Shop offered both general cuts and higher-effort specialty cuts, and those move at very different speeds. Instead of forcing everyone through a single line, staff ran two separate virtual queues from one NextMe setup. The general queue stayed open throughout the activation, while the specialty queue was introduced for a defined window during the show. Staff could open, manage, and balance both flows in the same platform in real time, without adding new tools or disrupting the fans already waiting.
- Text alerts that brought fans back at the right moment. When a fan’s turn was close, NextMe sent a self check-in text telling them to head back to the booth. Fans returned right when they were needed, so chairs stayed full and the line kept moving without a crowd hovering at the booth.
The results
The activation drew heavy demand and, more importantly, gave fans their festival time back while keeping them engaged with the experience.
- Nearly 800 fans joined the virtual queue. Hundreds of guests joined the line through NextMe, a clear signal of how much demand The Shop pulled on the floor, and every one of them held their place without standing in a physical line.
- Fans stayed actively engaged while they waited. Nearly half of waiting fans spent their dwell time in the branded virtual waiting room, returning an average of 2.1 times each and spending an average of 2 minutes 45 seconds engaged per visit. Rather than losing patience in a static line, fans kept checking in and staying ready for their turn.
- More than 15 hours of total fan engagement. Across everyone who joined, fans spent over 15 hours engaged with the branded waiting room. That is 15 hours of attention on the activation that a traditional line would have spent as idle standing time.
